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Monday, April 16, 2012

Local bard, Jan Hope, wrote this splendid AAR report for our recent HIS game. I'm going to have to start taking photos of the game if he is going to continue to write these amazing AAR reports. This is an extremely long report, but well worth it if you play the game.

Another great game! Played out differently this time
in the opening turns with more drama to follow as the game progresses.
The choices came down to France or Hapsburgs for me and as I'm way underwater
on the power game I selected France again, and as before learned a lot more
through making mistakes, many mistakes!

Highlights of the first 14 years, 1517-1531:

On the eastern front, the Hungarians defended a siege
against Belgrade with one solitary unit against the Ottoman hordes, 10 dice for
Ottomans (Suleiman, siege works, and troops, 10 or so units, not to mention
cavalry, an army of nearly 100,000 Mohametans, and the Hungarians held!!
What are the odds, what are the odds? (Well, a little less than two in a
hundred to put a fine point on it, so we should be able to get through the next
50 games or so before the Ottoman has to shriek around the room with his hair
on fire, absolutely on fire, dice justice of a sort for the player who launched
the usually inept Willoughby on the ultimate total victory circumnavigation in
the previous game ...) So, one troop lost for the Ottomans, and on to the next
round where the infuriated and still smoldering Ottomans attacked with a
fierceness not seen in Europe since the Gauls sacked Rome, alas the Hungarians
died to a man, while the eastern hordes plundered all.

The Protestants launched the Reformation with great zeal,
gaining a foothold even though the Pope fomented unrest across Germany, and in
the early years disgraced two papal debaters, while Carlstadt was burned at the
stake. Publication of the Bible into German brought the masses over the
Reformed faith, six regions in all immediately converting. The printing
press has been played by others for points and eluded the grasp of Luther as he
has had more immediate priorities for his home card when the printing press was
laid down.

The Papacy has been valiantly trying to contain the
Reformation through counter-reformation at long odds and debates to hold down
the electorates in anticipation that the Schmalkaldic league will come into
effect without the full 12 VP to Protestants, this is a real nail biting
contest with debate after debate, including one going to the second round and
ending inconclusively. Leo succumbed early, with much feigned grief
around the Vatican, Clement carried on with the Counter-Reformation and for a
supposed man of the cloth, showed his satanic side when he orchestrated a
bowstring demise of Ibrahim! Relatively soon afterward, Clement was found
dead in his chambers, there were rumors of poisoning, the Mohametan usually
brags openly of such intrigue, but nothing was heard that would confirm or deny
the circumstances of Clements death, his tongue was frightfully black though
when his mouth was closed for the last time, and as before, there was much
rejoicing at the Vatican when the new Pope ascended to the Holy See, Paul
bringing an air of expectancy for the Counter-Reformation.

The Ottomans, after the initial resistance at Belgrade moved
on to Buda and conquered Hungary, but somewhat hamstrung by the loss of Ibrahim
turned to piracy, harassing the Hapsburgs and amassing victory point upon
victory point through the ruthlessness of their corsairs.

Naval squadrons were built, but other than corsairs, no
naval actions took place for more than a decade as the fleets stayed in port
waiting for the right opportunity, with the English fleet coming out in support
of the Scottish campaign as the only naval action through the end of turn 3
(1531).

The Hapsburgs are always blessed with a wealth of challenges
vastly exceeding the resources to meet them all, and early on Charles appeared
near the Netherlands holdings and promptly conquered Metz, then moved onward to
Geneva with an army of mercenaries to threaten France. Francis in an
uncharacteristically aggressive mood, boldly moved against Charles and even
maneuvered into position for a field battle! Charles, anticipating
victory over the usually militarily inept Francis, accepted battle.
Francis had brought his treasury with him though and bribed the mercenaries to
come over to the French side and about half of them abandoned Charles for the
prospect of gold! Francis and his army bolstered with new mercenaries now
mounting overwhelming force still only just narrowly defeated the diminished Hapsburgs,
but did actually eliminate the whole force of those few that remained, and
captured Charles standing alone on the field!

Charles proved to be an amiable guest at the Chateaux, and
we enjoyed many fine days in falconry and hunting wild boar while engaged in
conversation on a more peaceful future for our two countries, but the somewhat
stricter version of Spanish Catholicism apparently hinders Charles in the,
shall we say, full enjoyment of the French court, and in the end I was a little
sad to see him go, but among my virtually destitute resources, the ransom was
the only way that I could finance a colony, alas the cold winter in Montreal
was too harsh for the first band of settlers and the colony failed, so in the
end, the only result of the field victory in Geneva was a pleasant interlude
and the cessation of immediate hostilities leading later to an alliance and the
opportunity to use my meager resources to launch voyages of exploration,
successfully discovering several huge inland lakes that I have name the Great
Lakes and also a magnificent broad river from these lakes to a large gulf and
then the sea that I have named in honor of Saint-Laurent! A few years
later I tried to establish another colony at Montreal, but that too failed,
colonies are proving to be expensive and unproductive ventures, but I do have
another explorer to send out in the future. And of course as a true
patron of the arts I built two of the most magnificent Chateaux ever seen in
Europe! And while idling away many delightful afternoons, I often thought
that I might have used the opportunity of the Geneva victory to turn my
attention to a virtually defenseless Metz engaging in further conquests of the
martial sort, and in retrospect I thought it necessary in the courtly French
manner of the day to return the captive if a ransom were offered rather than
retaining him as my guest for the longer term and forcing a suit for peace, but
alas the afternoons are so harsh when on campaign while the many pleasures of
the chateaux are, well let's just say more suited to my taste ...

My other military venture, the Scottish affair, proved to be
more of an annoyance to Henry than a real campaign, as I firstly dallied in
allying with my natural allies the Scots, although I'm not so sure how we are that
natural, as those fierce warrior clans are polar opposites of we French, I mean
they actually run around outdoors in all that east wind, rain wearing skirts,
well ok they may not be the complete opposites, but still, there they are
tossing cabers around like they were elegant walking sticks and eating sheep
stomachs while pretending to like it. And then with all that red hair,
the Scots must be angels from God, unlike we French with our darker side
... Plus, as that most amusing court jester Robin the Wil' Liams
explained to me, they invented this truly awful game they call golf where they
try to hit a tiny ball into a gopher hole with a bent stick, thrashing away in
the tall grass until they have a stroke, hey that's why they call each shot a
stroke because when they miss they feel like they're going to die! Well
anyway, I much prefer the game I invented that I think I'll call Croquet,
played on a genteel, flat, closely groomed lawn where we stroke our mallets for
hours on end, driving our balls relentlessly in penetrating those exquisitely
tight wickets, and having conquered all the wickets from the front we then go
around again taking them all from behind until fully a dozen have been scored,
yes a truly fine French game, most elegant in its shall we say, conception, and
played in the warm sun while sipping nectar much to the enjoyment of the
ladies! And as for Robin, his harsh and brusque Scottish dialect leaves
him often outside the innermost circle in spite of his jest, whereas the ladies
of court find the dulcet tones of the French tongue much more to their liking
when affectionately whispering sweet nothings in their, well let's just say,
ear ...

Anyway back to the dreary Scottish affair, Henry moved on
Edinburgh, and while I had dallied in allying, I finally came to the aid of my
northern friends, especially as it cost me almost nothing out of my typically
scant treasury. Henry prepared to siege but was suddenly struck by gout,
meanwhile some outlying clans came to bolster the defense of Edinburgh against
the evil foe, I of course tried to entreat them to act against their historic
nature and abandon the place, I mean it is Edinburgh not Marseilles! I
even offered them comfortable quarters in the south of France and perhaps a
chance to fight the Genoese at some point, but they are nothing but loyal to
their cold, wet, rainy, damp, moldy homeland, bereft of any natural resource
save grass for sheep and sand traps for golfers, and they refused to
leave. Henry recovered from his bout of gout, laid siege, then assaulted
but could not overcome the reinforced garrison, and so he assaulted again
finally conquering the place as the Scots fought courageously to the last man,
and their fleet that might have served me well in the Mediterranean was scuttled
to the eternal deep to keep Henry from using it against others.

Meanwhile, Henry was granted a divorce, far too easily to
the French mind what with Francis having professed to being a devout Catholic
and all, well somewhat devout, well ok at least not Protestant, anyway as it
all quickly came to a head the divine Miss Anne proved to be a bold adventuress
and became somewhat detached of hers, Henry with passing fancy moved on the
even more divine Miss Jane who bore him a son, Edward the Weak as he is known
around court while being very careful not to call him that out loud near
Henry. Yes Edward is a sickly child, but perhaps a miraculous cure may be
found in due course or perhaps even in the fullness of time. And while
Anne's tenure was brief, she was instrumental in fomenting the seeds of
reformation, with the Protestant faith seeming more to the English taste than
Mary's strict and unwavering Spanish Catholicism instilled in her by Henry's
first Queen, Catherine of Aragon, who is of course the aunt of the Emperor
Charles, my recent guest.

As for the future, it appears that the somewhat peaceful
interregnum among the Catholic powers may be coming to an end. Charles in
a masterful diplomatic maneuver, suggested that England was a dire threat to us
both, hinted about an offensive against the English on his part leaving Calais
as a possible target to me, in exchange for an alliance, then he negotiated
with the English telling them who knows what, but the English were most
surprised when Charles announced an alliance with the French after having
announced an alliance with the English! I was not so surprised having
entertained Charles at some length as my guest, but at least the lack of
Hapsburgs assaults against the English and me did allow my few meager resources
to be used to finish building my fleets and make a few modest explorations and
colonial attempts.

With a weak heir, the Reformation about to unfold vigorously
in England, and the Scottish affair settled, Henry seems bent on solidifying
his position with the Protestants and perhaps mounting a new wife, a Flanders
mare might suit his interests this time around, and with forces and resources
he could be looking toward continental campaigns launched from Calais.
Hopefully he will be looking more toward Antwerp and perhaps Metz, and might be
interested in an alliance with me, although I'm sure Charles has resources and
opportunities to turn Henry against me, even though I treated him royally when
he was my guest. Meanwhile I have events that could be helpful against
the Ottoman that I might play in exchange for an alliance with the Hapsburgs
that could postpone a Hapsburg invasion of France for a few years and also help
position the Hapsburgs for a foray into Germany from Vienna against the
Schmalkaldic league if it forms in a way that does not end this whole
magnificent adventure in favor of the Protestants. An alliance with the
Hapsburgs would be a good thing for the near term, and also with England if
Henry is amenable, so that I can build land forces, make one more exploration,
and of course build another chateaux! For the longer term, I might make a
foray against Genoa if I can find the ships or perhaps the land-locked
Florence, but that seems way down the road many years away ... and then there
are the inevitable assaults from my guest ...

Lesson Learned, even if the Scots insist on defending their
homeland, make them leave anyway to reinforce their "natural" allies
in Europe rather than dying to a man in the rain on sodden field.

28 March 2012

Another hair hurting session, in other words, brilliant!!!

1532-1539:

The year 1532 opened for Francis with the Ottoman suggesting
an alliance in exchange for no piracy against the French with the French
offering to retain John Zapolya as a guest rather than unleashing his zealous
revolutionaries on behalf of the Hapsburgs and also not fomenting revolt in
Egypt, seemingly a reasonable exchange in the heat of the moment, but in the
fullness of time it would have been far better to have played Z on behalf of
the Hapsburgs ... With Charles still remembering his enjoyment as my guest, the
Hapsburgs offered an alliance so that their many other challenges could be
pursued and I accepted without mentioning the Z agreement with the Ottoman, the
English also suggested an alliance now the Scottish annoyance is behind us, so
that the religious conflict over the true faith could take hold in England, and
with harmony among all the Catholic powers, it seemed wise to also ally with
the Papacy for a few years to explore, colonize, and build, in the spirit of
the French way!

And so it was, a discovery by my famed explorer Verrazano of
the Mississippi River, and I must say that this native word is truly hard
pronounce in the French with all those silent s's. Then finally a
successful colony at Charlesbourg-Royale that by 1539 actually produced
resources for the always scant French Treasury. And of course more
chateaux! Oh and then with a few spare resources, more troops were
enlisted, and then a few years later, I continued our alliance with the Ottoman
who suggested that I declare war on the always beleaguered Hapsburgs to aid him
while offering Treachery on my behalf against the Duke of Alva. It's not
for nothing that the other rulers call me Francis the Naive behind my back, and
sometimes Stupid to my face! Anyway, emboldened by a rare surplus in my
treasury including many great bags of gold all in large piles, I declared war,
promptly marched along with my amiable companion Montmorency on lightly
defended Metz, laid siege, and then assaulted, failing the first attempt even
though I had almost 100,000 troops, but finally reducing the garrison and
capturing the place! A military victory for France in the
first war Francis ever declared! With the Protestants gaining strength
year by year, I induced Zwingli to don armor and he immediately attacked Papacy
troops that for reasons known only to the Pope were in Germany intent on
mounting a military attack! Zwingli fought bravely defeating one of the
troops but perished on the field, and over the longer term, his rash action
blunted some of the force of Reformation, especially in the Zurich
region. Also among this rare circumstance of a large and usefully
flexible treasury, I was also able to launch a voyage of conquest accompanied
by smallpox to aid my adventure. Alas a conquistador of such little
consequence that I cannot even recall his name sallied forth, and even with the
signal advantage of spreading heinous disease, still managed to have himself
killed by the native people in the dry desert region south of the Mississippi
basin. I have much admiration for the native people in the northern
territories and we are more like compatible friends and allies with many common
interests in the natural world, hunting, fishing, enjoying the bounty of the
earth, although their more primitive way of approaching these pleasures is
beyond my endurance as I am fully attuned to the chateaux life and all its many
and diverse pleasures. These people of the southern region though are altogether
different from the northern people, and in contemplating the recent studies by
Copernicus, as I sip nectar at the chateaux, it seems that these people might
not even be of this earth! I know that may sound radical, but still, one
has to think of something while reclining on a chaise lounge, and that seems to
be an interesting hypothesis that these southern people come from beyond the
stars ... And while the world truly revolves around the French in spite of the
theories of these scientists, there were other momentous events in play this
decade that bear recounting. Oh, and when it came time for the Ottoman to
fulfill his side of our diplomatic agreement by using his treacherous nature
against the Duke of Alva, he declined and played his resources for his own
gain. A lesson learned on dealings with the easterners ...

The Protestant and the Papacy continued their arguments with
each other and even among themselves over their finely honed and virtually
impenetrable doctrines, such as whether the bread is a symbol or a living body,
publishing treatises upon treatises on the meaning of it all, burning books in
return, waging debate upon debate, with Eck brilliantly catching Cop in an
untenable and weak argument and having him burned at the stake, following
Tyndale to the pyre who had been burned earlier! The Reformation ebbed
and the Counter-Reformation flowed, Cranmer came to the forefront of the
Reformation in England bringing many over to the new faith and translation of
the New Testament into English brought in a surge of new believers. The
Pope struggled against all odds in England and always targeted German
electorates in an attempt to keep the Protestants in check. The
Protestants under the threat of military attack finally formed the Schmalkaldic
League as a military alliance, and the Pope was successful in holding enough
electorates to keep the League from gaining an immediately overwhelming and
unassailable victory. Being French, I of course attribute my own action
in the Zwingli affair as having undermined the Reformation attempt to expand
from Zurich into France, while weakening their debating prowess and blunting
their conversion momentum overall, and of course my brilliant military
expedition in capturing and occupying Metz have all been instrumental, and
perhaps even pivotal, in preventing the League from gaining an early victory,
but of course the Pope is the Pope and I must kiss his ring and hail his
greatness, although I am still mystified as to those Papal troops showing up in
Germany, rather than strengthening against any foray by the Ottomans from the
south, especially since as allies, he need not worry about any attacks by the
French who it is true do have a covetous eye on Florence and its artistic
grandeur that would find a welcome reception from the aficionado from the
chateaux if our two countenances were joined.

The English meanwhile used the peaceful interregnum and a
natural affinity for the Protestants to select from a bevy of marriage
candidates, the sister of the Duke of Cleves, her only apparent virtue as
being, well reportedly and probably actually, a maiden, unlike most of the
other choices, and I take strong exception to the aspersions cast upon the
French ladies, I know from personal knowledge that most of them were not
maidens, well actually I think not any were, but still, calling them all by ill
found names is simply impolite in royal society. In any event, Henry
found Anne of Cleves much to his, shall we say, taste, and as a jouster of the
first water and well used to the saddle, he mounted the Flanders Mare
relentlessly and energetically, producing much harmony in the court, young
Edward was even infused with the enthusiasm of it all and recovered his full
health, and Edward is now expected to reign long after the demise of Henry, no
doubt to be hastened along by the exertions at the dining table followed by the
demands of bedchamber, not to mention campaigning in the field. In
between all the dining and dallying with the Mare (and as I understand it no
one mentions her nickname within earshot of Henry), Henry, in taking advantage
of the Ottoman intrigues against Charles and my own brilliant field campaign
against Metz, harried the Hapsburgs into the fortifications at Antwerp,
successfully laid siege, and after several dilatory assaults, finally reduced
the fortification, routed the garrison into total surrender, and conquered the
place, gaining a twin city for Calais, and a feeling of victory on the scale of
personal success.

Turning now to the eastern front, and the theater of
ultimate decision, the Ottomans, hamstrung by the demise of Ibrahim, were
pushed back initially from Buda, but continued an aggressive piracy campaign,
forcing the Hapsburgs to cede many plundered victory points to the Ottoman
success at sea. The Ottomans had gained territory along the Mediterranean
coast of Africa, and gaining strength from the Hapsburgs' many distractions,
plus making a small inroad using the modest treasure from the treachery that
had been promised me, mounted a long siege of Buda. The siege went on and
on for well more than a year, as the Hapsburgs widely dispersed treasury
divided up in penny packets rather than large bags of gold, inched away on
minor successes here and there, trying to roll all the string up into some sort
of small ball ... The Hapsburgs were almost to the last thin grasp of their
treasury, and the Ottoman was finally compelled to assault, Buda fell and with
it the Ottoman was suddenly flush with the scent of overwhelming and
unassailable victory in the year 1539. Charles in Vienna did not have the
resources to successfully siege and then assault Buda, and in one last
desperate attempt to rein in the Ottoman, Charles sent troops from Hapsburgs
holdings on the northern Mediterranean coast across to the siege of the small
Ottoman garrison in Algiers. One assault, one chance to wipe out the
garrison, the two dice went down, and there it was, victory for the
Hapsburgs! The Ottoman on the threshold of total victory, now thwarted
and dropping down a notch, leaving the Papacy and the Ottomans in leading
positions, with the English, Protestant, and even the French following along
close behind, with the Hapsburgs lagging in victory points, but with colonies
producing many resources for the treasury, and the unlimited cunning and guile
of Charles about to make 1540 and the coming decade an era for the ages.

So now what of the future ... the Papacy gains many new
resources including new and stronger debaters, along with the prospect for
Jesuits and Jesuit universities in blunting the Reformation and strengthening
the Counter-Reformation, the Hapsburgs have many resources and if these are
more along the lines of big bags of gold instead of penny packets, Charles
might push back on the Ottomans at Buda, and perhaps keep the Papacy from an
outright victory by declaring war and attacking Papal territory. The
Protestants have likely reached their high water mark under the onslaught of
the new Papal powers, and the English, with no other real territorial target than
me, are likely to wage war on the French, who would ideally like to build more
chateaux and perhaps send another colony to the New World. After some
good fortune in the late 1530s, my treasury has returned to its normal state of
paucity and with the newly minted resources, I cannot even mount a voyage of
conquest with my last so-called "conquistador." And while
Florence beckons, I have experienced in the past several map exercises with my
generals on the need for spring deployments of large troop formations across
the Alps, a large treasury with large hordes of gold to provide the flexibility
needed for an aggressive strategy against the Papacy that would lead to an
attempt on Florence. I have enticed the Italian Machiavelli, a princely
fellow for a civil servant, to my camp though, so in a campaign of deceit I
might feign non-aggression without actually allying with the English and then
with Machiavelli declare war on Henry and use my meager resources to perhaps
unseat him from Antwerp. If successful there, and perhaps with another
colony, I might draw a future treasury that would provide for an expedition
into Italy, but that is some years off, and for now, I would be happy to build
another chateaux, recruit more troops, try another colony, and perhaps take
Antwerp from Henry. Of course Henry might have other plans for me in a
deceit of his own with an impromptu declaration of war, and Charles, if he can
contain the Ottomans and prevent a Papal grand victory consuming only a portion
of his treasury, might find targets of opportunity in France beyond my ability
to counter. I feel the French have sort of reached a high water mark with
limited opportunities ahead, only one "conquistador" that might be
launched at a cost rarely seen in the French treasury, nearly all of the
chateaux now built, all explorers successfully completing their expeditions,
and limited and difficult military targets within small resources. A few
more victory points might accrue to my ledger, but overall the momentum is with
others, and at whatever cost, the Ottoman must be contained, even if the Papacy
or the Hapsburgs are propelled to victory as a consequence!

And so it goes, another brilliant nail-biting session of
Here I Stand, a magnificent game whether winning or losing, the issue always in
doubt to the bitter end!

For some more on the lessons learned front, with both the
Ottomans and the Hapsburgs capable of scoring a decisive win at almost any
time, it is hard to know in 1532 which one will be in a potentially winning
position in 1539, as were the Ottomans this time around. Had I been
clairvoyant in 1532, I would have definitely played the John Z card on behalf
of the Hapsburgs giving them four regular troops in Buda at that time and most
likely avoiding the drama as it unfolded in 1539, as exciting as it was it was
too close a call toward Ottoman victory from an unabashed historical
perspective that would prefer a Catholic power, or more especially the Papacy,
to reign supreme at the end rather than the Mohametan. The "historical"
progress of Europe, and even of France, would likely be superior under Hapsburg
leadership than Ottoman. I probably avoided piracy by allying with the
Ottomans and playing the John Z card for points, but from a broader
perspective, aiding the Hapsburgs who were also my allies at that point would
likely have been a superior strategy ... although both the Ottoman and the
Hapsburgs seem fairly casual in following through on what is spoken during the
negotiation sessions.

So here are a couple of more lessons learned from Francis
the Naive:

Generally lean toward the Hapsburgs rather than the Ottoman
in making alliances and aiding with events, although neither power seems
particularly trustworthy, especially when the weaker power tends toward the
"kingmaker" role in guiding the "historical" perspective
along a reasonable course for that weaker nation ... of course when Virgin
Queen arrives and the powers, superior and inferior alike, carry on for a few
more decades, different lessons may pertain! And then if Virgin Queen is
followed in the fullness of time by the Thirty Years War to bring the Wars of
Reformation all the way to their natural conclusion with the Peace of
Westphalia, well we'll have the whole ball of string in front of us, and a
betrayal of an agreement in 1532 might not loom all that large in the outcome
at it plays out toward 1648!

Additionally, making agreements on card play is like
building castles in sand, unless the other player plays his side of the
agreement first, it seems problematical that the agreement will be fulfilled on
my behalf, hence the lesson, play your own hand as it is, and if someone offers
help in exchange for something make sure that it isn't a show stopper if it
doesn't come true. So far a surviving Duke of Alva hasn't proved a show
stopper for the French, but there he is grinning like the Cheshire cat peering
intently across the Pyrenees, and of course it was only a 50-50 chance anyway
that he would have been terminated with prejudice, so even if the agreement had
been fulfilled and the die roll gone against my long term interests, the Duke
would be back by now anyway, but still, remember these are castles in the sand
...

11 April 2012

Another grueling session, that is to say fantastic!!

1540-1543

So here we are, the Papacy in ascendency, the hot breath of
the Ottoman singeing the hair on the back of the Pope's neck, England and the
Protestants allying together and vying for ultimate success, even the French
are within striking distance although with the typically scant treasury the
limited opportunities are well beyond the high water mark of Francis the Naive,
sometimes charitably called Francis the Kingmaker, and the Hapsburgs are
trailing behind but with many treasures in hand, well many bags in hand, how
much actual treasure is spread around among them is yet a mystery.

There is little diplomacy to announce, I remain at war with
the Hapsburgs and hold the sinister Machiavelli to spring on someone at just
the right moment, the English and the Protestants remain solid allies and are
hopeful of knocking the Pope out of the leading role in Europe, the Pope is
ready to strike with Loyola and the other newly arrived debaters. Charles
peers furtively over the map looking for likely victims ... and the spring
deployments begin. I move to Metz with Montmorency where I can threaten
the English at Antwerp, or if need be use Machiavelli instead to attack the
Protestants to undermine an electorate for no gain for myself but to keep
Luther from ultimate success. Europe is poised for action, the Ottomans
move, the Hapsburgs respond, the English send out an explorer, the French build
and wait, the Pope brings in Loyola to debate a hapless Scottish preacher ...
Wishart is burned at the stake, the Papacy is now reaching above the point of
ultimate success, targets Protestant electorates for counter-reformation to
bring down the Protestants, and is solidly in the lead. The Protestants
respond reforming an electorate, but the momentum is clearly against them
now. The Ottomans and Hapsburgs continue to face off, and the Ottoman
piracy campaign begins to flag compared to earlier successes. The English
consolidate their position and publish treatises to undermine the Papacy in
England. It now seems clear that I have picked the wrong enemy in a
failed strategy, and with the Protestants now fading, I should have perhaps
deployed to the south of France to threaten the Papacy, although that would
strengthen the English, and what could be better for France than the Papacy to
reign supreme at the end over a Catholic Europe, but continuing with the failed
strategy I play Machiavelli to declare war on England. The Papacy debates
again and the Protestants respond strongly pulling the Papacy back from
ultimate victory.

The Ottomans stymied by Ibrahim's premature demise and
fading prospects from piracy are unable to advance their position, the
Hapsburgs are cunningly playing the waiting game, while the English prepare for
battle against the French. Francis and Montmorency march on Antwerp,
Henry succeeds in intercepting from Calais, and an epic field battle begins,
well epic by French standards anyway. The French charge inflict nearly
30,000 casualties, the English respond with a countercharge and inflict almost
as many, and then in one last brilliant commitment of the reserve, Henry's
forces match the losses of the valiant French. With these losses, the
French attack is thwarted and Francis retreats to Liege, wishing all the while
to be playing croquet at the chateaux, campaigning is such drudgery and then
there is the mud ... The Papacy engages in brilliant counter-reformation actions
and accedes back to the victory point, the Protestants fall short in
reformation attempts to pull the Papacy back.

The Ottomans continue to hold onto their position but with
limited resources are unable to advance, while the cunning Charles takes advantage
of the French blunder in the north to send Alva, who should have perished
earlier, across the Pyrenees to Avignon to threaten Marseilles! The
English are unable to reign in the Papacy even though between the English and
the Protestants they have cornered the entire treasury of large concentrated
resources! The English later also launching a voyage of conquest.

Francis the Naive throws in his home treasury planned for
one more chateaux into a march from Liege through Metz and Lyon to Avignon to
threaten field battle with Alva. Alva wisely and successfully evades
retiring to Barcelona, or "Barthelona" as Miss Cacciapaglia, my
Spanish III teacher used to say in her elegant Castilian accent while perched
on the corner of my desk, right there, so close, yet so far, and when the bell
rang, it was linger for a while and then carefully arrange the books for a
concealed exit to the next class ... the girls all highly amused at my
predicament ... anyway back to the war ...

The Papacy and the Protestants went at it bitterly throwing
down for debate, burning books, publishing the most arcane theoretical
treatises, but the Pope remained unassailably strong.

Charles now having moved me to the south of France took
advantage of a weakened garrison at Metz and attacked fiercely, laying in a
siege and then assaulting the beleaguered garrison before Francis could react
again. There were casualties on both sides but the garrison held
initially, but then the Hapsburg forces rolled out siege artillery and wiped
out the garrison. Metz fell and the earlier French victory changed hands
back to the Hapsburgs favor.

With limited resources remaining and unassailable military
targets, Francis thwarted Henry ambitions of conquest with the Search for
Cibola, saving the Aztecs for a possible French conquest if a rarely seen high
treasury draw might permit it if the war continued into 1544. And if only
that English treasury that launched the voyage of conquest could have been used
instead to pull down the Papacy ... The Hapsburgs had resources remaining, but
as it turned out only in penny packets, so the French foray against the English
and the counter moves of the Hapsburgs against the French sapped our strengths
in bringing down the Papacy from the seat of power.

And so in the end, exhausted by war in 1543, the Ottomans,
English, Protestants, French, and Hapsburgs all resigned themselves to
applauding a magnificent victory by the Pope!

Looking back on it all, I could have threatened the Papacy
instead of the English with a deployment to Grenoble rather than Metz.
The reinforced garrison at Metz might have held, Alva might have remained
contained in Spain and I might have built another chateaux to come out at 22
victory points, and perhaps with a minor foray into Italy I might have
undermined the Papacy by spending resources against me rather than against the
Reformation. I had been down that road before and with a hand of two 3s
and the rest 2s mounting an invasion of Italy is really not in the cards.
But then the English might have embarked on further adventurism and perhaps
prevailed over the Papacy, and in the end what could be better than a Papal
religious victory, and among the Catholic power-powers at least finishing ahead
of the Hapsburgs, for a personal best, and retiring to the chateaux for games
of Croquet with the ladies of the court, while Europe with the Ottomans at bay
move onto a new era with the Catholic powers in ascendency! No wait, who
is that new Queen of England!!

About the Dictator

Benevolent Dictator of the Charlotte Garrison wargaming club and chieftan of the Burgess Clan.
EMAIL: EBurgess@Carolina.rr.com
Wargaming with miniatures (and rules) since about 1989. Playing with toy soldiers since 1970.
Miniature Wargame Rules Written by me: Guns of Liberty (AWI), Barrage (Piquet), Archon 2nd edition (Piquet), Din of Battle 2nd edition (Piquet), and Death in the Desert (FFL)